Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-21
money spent upon her last season." said
Mrs. Chillington.
ga trOci0ul fndaoI

2 girls marry for an establishment: thew
DID so even in my time; and With money
d one can do So mQch.n
s Mrs. Cbi!!ington was chsritsble-so
! emnently charitable. Was a subscrip-
ton list to be formed, bazaar got up, q
/ scheme for poor children, for the danst-
tiers OF clergymeD, a charity ball to cIothe
e niggers-the old story-she always fig
ured as a lady patroness after she bad
carefully scanned, or ascertained, the
names OF those among whom she was to
. rank in print. She was q great believer
in print.
1.-THE season is quite a thing OF the
past, IN town, OF course" said Mrs. Chill
lington, in deeply aggrieved tone; "but
1t Is rather hard that l should bury my
: self mere for week to advance your in
terests, Melanie"
"And fear, aunt, that after the opera,
the lyceum, and so forth, you will find
our penny readings at Stokencross school
very mild dissipation indeed" replied
Melanie, who felt provoked amid her sor-
row, as her two relatives were never
weary of ringing the changes on the bril-
| liant proposal of Sir Brisco, OF it's many
temptations and advantages, how Ravens
bourne would be home for the helpless
Reggie ii aught befell his uncle, and how
Dicks future prospects would be the
kind baronet's special care
"A man like that-an old baronet, my
!, dear
"Old, indeedn
81 mean his title is old, he is 8
c'tch-he is not likely to give another
chance to girl like you-one of q
broken-doWn and poverty- stricken family
Twenty thousand pounds per annum!
Are you mad?" asked Mrs. ChiIlington,
tanning herself vigorously.
Me!anie sighed with WEAKNESS of
heart. HoW often had she heard all these
bitter things before?
"When will the time come" she
thought, "when parents and guardians
will cease to interfere in any fashion with
the choice OF husbands and wives, enforc
ing their own real or pretended expert
ence, while talking of old heads on young
shoulders, and so forth? A man, at least,
is lucky; he can generally choose for
J himself"
Autumn was drawing on, and still the
despatch-box contained 20 letter for
Melanie. What did it, what could it
mean, this most unaccountable cessation
in the correspondence of Montague Ions
dale?
of him, or from him, and she knew not
how or when to prosecute her inquiries.
No answer had come to her passionate,
loving, and latterly reproachful letters !;
and yet she loved him as much as ever,
though growing weary and hesrtsick by
: that long and un0rOken silence.
"Wby does he not write to me?" she
often said to her contidant, Reggie. 'Has
he ceased to care for me? Has he seen
I some one else? Is he too busy, too ill
on no, no-not that? Has he repented of
his engagement to penniless girl, who
I has only her love to give him?"
: But Reggie had his OWE suspicious, and
stoutly declared that ali these fears were
? groundless.
"Why waste your thoughts-your re-
gret-upon him?" asked Uncle Grim
shaw one morning, as he relocked the
despstch-hox IN angry haste. sis he
not too contemplate for it? Has he not
proved himself alike false, tickle and in
different? Is he worth tear?"
But poor Melanie shed many more, and
Reggie writhed on his couch as he list
ened to their blatant uncle; and mean
: while she had many hopeless days and
half-sleepless nights. "We do we'll"
says writer, "to cover up and hide
r these sorrows that aIl of Us go through
: once, at least, in our lives-sorroWs for
8 which there is no cure, no solace, no
e consolation, save in the gradual harden
I Ing of our own hearts, and the healing touch
? OF that most merciful of all CONSIDERS
} whose name is Time.n
And as the weeks passed on, Mr.. Grim
shaw could see, but with more anger than
pity, that the once family rose tinted
IHh9pRp 1oJo
that her sweet grey-violet eyes began TO
l wear hopeless expression, while dark
cloud OF despair and suspense hung over
her head-the herald of storm she could
not, dared not see.
Now that Lonsdale was gone-s species
| of double separation accomplished-Mr
} GrimshaW and Mrs. Chillington advised
Sir Brisco, when with Melanie, to ignore
all he knew OF her love affair, to forget it,
as they hoped she would soon do; or to
t look upon it as girlish and romantic folly {;
, to trust to silence, time, sense of her
own interests, and so forth.
To do him justice, Sir Brisco Bray
} brooke was neither cruel nor unreasona-
Bile; nay, much the reverse, indeed. But
/ he was too old to understand young
girls love; and though he knew not the
, actual pressure that was then put upon
Melanie, and was to be put still further,
by the cruel alternative they gave her, he
| thought:
son, it is all right; oil girls have first
fancies, and she will get over her silly
, one for that infantry fellow, poor Ions
J dale, and all will be jolly In the end"
"Be true to Montague, and do not let
them control you through me-" said
Reggie to her; there is some trickery at
work. Let them browse upon the ligger
as they please" he added, sliding into
his nautical phraseoIogy, "and try to
bring you up with round turn, but
!, will go TO hospital-yes, to the work
house, or anywhere to save you, dearest
MelRnie."
Aud as ne spoke thepoor fellow put his
wasted arms round her, and drew her
sweet face caressinglY on his breast.
. Inspired by kind OF superstition of
the heart, she frequently visited their late
TRUSTING plate by the river side, and in do
ing so, by recalling more wildly the last
words and last gaze of Lonsdale, sub
!, Jected herself to species of loving self
torture; and there she would linger, con-
ming over in memory the details of their
!, parting, watching the Majestic flow OF
the Thames, and remembering as she did
80 the lines of the Scottish poetess, lisa
Craig, as she tells US how
1t glimmers
Through the stems OF the beaches
Inrougn the screen of the willows it shimmers,